Isabelle was in as a playable instead, confirming that the people who thought it was delayed due to an Isaac/Skull Kid trailer were incorrect. Also,many felt that Isabelle was underwhelming (though not necessarily bad) compared to previous reveals like King K. Rool and Ridley, though this is likely a combination not just made by Isabelle but by the delay causing hype/speculation to spike, the direct consisting of mostly ports with the new Animal Crossing, Yoshi's Crafted World, and Luigi's Mansion 3 being the only new games, and possibly the largest that the online system was underwhelming and generally a disappointment.

And then Sakurai confirmed the Direct in fact WAS edited because of the earthquake. But it doesn't matter because Isaac was disconfirmed on November 1st's Direct, definitively proving that he was never intended to be revealed in September.